TheCable

The Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), a civic organisation fostering public accountability in the country, says the sum of N9.7 billion has not been accounted for on 32 projects initiated by the federal government across 17 states in 2017.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Olusegun Elemo (pictured), PLSI executive director, said the unaccounted fund, when compared with the 2016 audit report, showed an increase by N6.8 billion.

According to Elemo, the organisation’s findings were gotten from data on the country’s 2017 audit report.

He urged the government to ensure that public funds are not just spent but properly accounted for.

“Nigeria must commit to ensuring that public funds are not just spent but also properly accounted for,” the executive director said.

“You are aware that President Buhari laid before the national assembly last Thursday the 2021 budget estimate of more than N13 trillion and nobody is asking the big question of how do we ensure that these huge funds are efficiently, effectively and economically utilised? What justification do we have to continue to spend without adequate audit mechanism?

“How do we use a 1956 audit act to evaluate a 2020 budget? It is completely unreasonable and that is where the problem is. That is the foundation of all our problems today — the lack of accountability.

“What young people are protesting about today is not just the failure of the policing system or SARS but the failure of an entire democratic culture that continues to keep young people under.

“There are no jobs, no quality education or health care, no efficient transportation system and all these and many other challenges are due to the lack of accountability in the utilisation of public resources.”

Elemo said the auditor-general’s office should be on a first-line charge and only accountable to the national assembly for transparency.

“We need to empower the office of the auditor-general for the federation to play a more effective note in ensuring that public funds begin to work for citizens and particularly the young people,” he said.

“Nigeria requires urgent reforms in different sectors of our national life and one of such is audit reform. Similarly, as the auditor-general for the federation clocks the retirement age prescribed by law by end of October 2020, it is imperative to state that such crucial office should be tenure-based as best practice requires, rather one limited by age.

“It is equally important that we implement the succession plan as provided for in section 86 of the 1999 constitution as amended. There must also be every effort to ensure that the office of the auditor-general for the federation is not subject to the direction or control of any authority or person as enshrined in section 85(6) of the 1999 constitution as amended.”

The PLSI executive director urged the executive to work with the legislature on promoting policies that would modernise the country’s audit system.

He added that PLSI’s latest publication entitled ‘Value for Money Handbook – Issue 2’ provides a summary of audited projects in the 2017 audit report of the country.